Through The Looking Glass Ruins Novels & Stories

I mutter. The mirror pulses a violent red. The heating elements are failing, the glass spider-webbing under the thermal stress. C-O-M-P-R-O-M-I-S-E-D. One final sentence scrolls across the bottom before the glass shatters into a thousand glittery shards. O-N-E G-U-A-R-D I-S N-O-T H-I-S. I drop to a crouch as the glass rains down. I don't feel the shallow cuts on my shoulders. I'm staring at the empty frame.

Not only did I have to put up with my father today, but I also have to be reminded of my nemesis two nights ago? The ‘unfortunate incident’ that threw up all over me and hurried out the next day without as much as an apology. Her eyes widened as they met mine and the voices all around me faded. Her eyes…they were unusual. A kind of deep emerald green. Recognition flashed in them and her lips parted slightly. I squinted my eyes a bit, trying to draw the connection between the drunk lady two nights ago and the composed one who sat before me. She looked away first, dropping her gaze to her palms that rested on her thighs.

The hollow became their crucible. Mist clung to the broken stone like breath held too long, and the air was thick with the scent of damp roots and the faint metallic tang of spent magic. Morning light filtered in through jagged holes in the collapsed ceiling, falling in pale shafts across the mossy floor. The ruin seemed to watch them—an ancient place, old enough to remember witchfire, wolf blood, and vampire shadow. Old enough to know they were remaking the world inside it.

Chapter 11: Through the Looking Glass Anna’s breath caught as she plunged into the mirror’s rippling surface. The sensation was disorienting—like falling through icy water, the air sucked from her lungs as a weightless pull dragged her deeper. She landed hard on something soft but solid. Gasping, she sat up and took in her surroundings. The ground beneath her hands was covered in shimmering silver grass, and towering trees with metallic bark stretched toward a kaleidoscopic sky.

“Even at full speed, it’s a three-day drive through the ruins. We have less than one.” ​“Then we don’t drive,” Leo said, his gold eyes fixed on the Prime Node glowing softly in the center of the spire's ruins. “We use the Veins of the world.”

The ruin James mentioned was the place to obtain the Dark Secrets. However, when they searched the ruin previously, they did not find anything. Nonetheless, it was one of the ruins left behind by the Glaciem Race. Perhaps there would be clues about other ruins of the Glaciem Race by going there. “Let’s go.” Lemuel did not refute. The two left in a hurry. They left the Central Plane and headed to the dark. James transversed through the dark quickly by relying on his memory. The two transversed for many years.

The ruins stretched for miles behind him. Collapsed towers, fractured streets, abandoned bridges, and empty valleys blurred together as Husen continued moving until even the scent of battle disappeared into the night. Only then did he stop. He stood before what looked like nothing more than a weathered cliff face, overgrown with vines and hidden behind centuries of moss and broken stone. To anyone passing by, it was simply another forgotten part of the wasteland. Husen reached toward the rock, pushing aside a curtain of hanging vines. A narrow passage revealed itself. Without looking back, he disappeared inside. The tunnel twisted deeper into the mountain before opening into a surprisingly s

Then another. Slowly, I made my way toward the bathroom. I shut the door behind me. The lock clicked. Only then… did I let myself break. I pressed both hands against the sink. I stared at my reflection for a long moment. My eyes were swollen. The mascara stains had long since disappeared. The woman looking back at me didn’t look like herself.

Unwelcoming. The world outside disappeared the moment we stepped in. The ruins swallowed the sound of the wind, the moonlight, even the familiar scents of the forest. It was like entering a separate realm entirely. Kael whispered, “Stay alert.” As if anyone here wasn’t. We walked deeper into the ruins until we reached a hallway leading to a large chamber. The door was cracked, hanging loosely, and when I pushed it open, my breath caught. Mirrors. Everywhere. Covering every wall from top to bottom, stretching so high I couldn’t even see the ends. Some were cracked, others dusty, others glowing faintly with a silver mist.

Magical residue that wouldn’t quite dissipate. “What’re you doing?” I asked, pausing a few steps closer than I should have. Close enough to see, but not close enough to touch. He looked past me, over to the stained glass window that was cracked from heat damage, panels of red and gold glass that painted the floor in shattered lines of sunlight. “Learning,” he said. I scowled. “From a hallway that’s already burned?” He shrugged. “Places like this hide their real shit in the places no one wants to look.”